BOOTboys

BB0913 : Two Churches, a Pulpit and a Cherry Picker

Thursday 23rd April 2009

I don’t know why it should be but it seems that when plumbing things start to go wrong in old houses, they go wrong in bulk. And then the puttings-right start to go wrong. The sequence started with minor annoyances like overflows leaking and taps dripping. Then the boiler failed; only it hadn’t really- it was the oil meter that had given a false reading so we ran out of oil. A toilet started weeping from the tank. It was repaired, which seemed to work until the tank cracked and the toilet kept on flushing water into the lounge below. Following which, the boiler really did pack up so we decided that it was time it was changed. The new boiler arrived but was the wrong size and it would take a week for the new one to arrive. The old one had, of course, been removed by now. Fortunately the weather is warmer so the lack of heating is not too great a problem.

The new boiler needed a new chimney liner, which meant a cherry picker was needed in order to fit it. I was just getting ready for today’s walk when the phone rang. The cherry picker delivery wagon driver couldn’t get down the little lane that leads to our house. Or to be more precise he feared that if he did, he would not be able to reverse back out, so please could the plumbers come and collect the cherry picker from the road in the village. However the plumbers had not arrived and I was the only available cherry picker driver. It was quite fun, driving the monster slowly down the road and negotiating it through our gateway, from a driving position some thirty feet in the air! However, it serves to explain why I wasn’t exactly ready when Pete arrived on time despite there having been a crash on the M6 and why we were a little late setting off on the pick up trail.

We have had some glorious weather over Easter but it had started to go off and the mountain forecast recommended staying in the south east of the Lake District. Consequently, we decided it was time to revisit the Howgills. The plan was to explore the area to the northwest of The Calf. On our way to Four Lane Ends where we intended to park, we were taken by surprise by the appearance of an attractive small church we had never noticed before. Probably as it was down a road we had never travelled before!

Holy Trinity Church at Howgill is in an idyllic setting by a stream but was strangely uninteresting inside, despite some old boards. It was perhaps too modern internally with a flat ceiling.

Holy Trinity Church, Howgil

Across the beck

It was surprisingly chilly when we reached Four Lane Ends. Stan took that as an excuse to add an extra base layer but we think he just wanted to strip to show off his tan secured by two weeks on Tenerife.

The Lune Gorge from Four Lane Ends

Bryan and I had a debate as to whether to go up the Calf and circle left (my intended route) or the reverse, which he advocated. In the end we decided that as the tops were covered in mist that should clear, it would be better to start via the Calf. Once the decision had been taken, Stan started muttering about Bryan having made the wrong decision and that we should have gone the other way. Stan- mea culpa, not Bryan, but we thought you liked autocratic decisions!

The folds of the Howgills

The route took us up Long Rigg Beck and then up the nose of White Fell. Tony was finding that eight pints in Glasgow the day before is not the best training for a steepish pull! It is, however, a delightful area with the meandering folds of the valleys.

The path up White Fell to The Calf

As we neared the top, the mist got thicker and there was a cold wind blowing on The Calf.

We headed east to drop into the top of a valley to get some respite whilst we had lunch.

Because of the lack of visibility we abandoned the thought of exploring the area to the northwest, preferring to stick to the better known combination of The Calf, Calders and Arant Haw and then returning to the valley via Swarth Greaves.

Team picture on The Calf

Mist starting to clear on approaching Arant Haw

I particularly enjoyed the descent and really felt the Howgill effect- a great sense of freedom- it’s gentler than the Lake District, much more grassy yet in some ways wilder, probably because its largely unbounded by walls. And of course, by now, some hours behind schedule, the mist was starting to clear from the tops!

Tony had asked that we visit Fox’s Pulpit on the return. I took a wrong road and found another little church, St John the Evangelist at Firbank.

St John the Evangelist's Church, Firbank

Inside St John's Church

This is very similar in appearance to that at Howgill and with a superb view.

The view from St John's across to the Howgills

We soon picked up the right road and found the rocky outcrop where in 1652 George Fox had enthralled a congregation of a thousand seekers for three hours.

Tony managed rather less, both in terms of time and folk!

On arriving home, I found the cherry picker neatly parked.

It turned out it wasn’t big enough- and a larger monster would arrive in the morning so the chimney could be reached and the flue liner fitter.

Tony address the seekers

A latter day George Fox?

I could not help but reflect that had George Fox been alive today, there wouldn’t have been the need for the thousand or so folk to traipse across the moor for a convenient high rock to serve as a pulpit.

All he would need to do is hire a cherry picker and any old field then launch himself thirty feet into the air from whence he could delight the assembled throng for hours on end.

Provided it was big enough, of course!

Don, 24th April 2009

STATISTCS

BB0913	Thursday 24th April 2009
Distance:	7.7 miles
Height climbed:	2,502 feet
Wainwrights: (Walks on the Howgill Fells)	The Calf, Calders, Arant Haw
Other Key Features:	Side Pike

If you have Memory Map on your computer, you can follow our route in detail by downloading BB0913.

For the latest totals of the mileages, heights and Lakeland Fells Books Wainwrights see: Wainwrights.

If anyone wants to claim other peaks, please let me know and I will submit them to the adjudication committee!

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BOOT boys

This page describes an adventure of BOOTboys, a loose group of friends of mature years who enjoy defying the aging process by getting out into the hills as often as possible!

As most live in South Lakeland, it is no surprise that our focus is on the Lakeland fells and the Yorkshire Dales.

As for the name, BOOTboys, it does not primarily derive from an item of footwear, and certainly not from any skin head associations or other
type of social group,
but is in memory of
Big Josie,
the erstwhile landlady
of the erstwhile Burnmoor Inn at Boot in Eskdale,
who enlivened Saint Patrick's Day 1973
and other odd evenings many years ago!

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2009 Outings

BB0901 : A Gordon Day Out
Thursday 8th January
BB0902 : Thank You,
Aunty Ethel!
Wednesday 14th January
BB0903 : A Wicked Hike???
Wednesday 21st January
BB0904 : Take a Mug With You
Sunday 25th January
BB0905 : Down in the Forest
Thursday 29th January
BB0906 : Not How But Where?
Thursday 5th February
BB0907 : Binsey Can Wait
(but Uncle Monty Can Not)
Thursday 12th February
BB0908 : Badgers on the Line
Thursday 5th March
BB0909 : It's not a W!
Thursday 12th March
BB0910 : Up on the Roof
Thursday 26th March
BB0911 : Not the Blisco Dashers
Thursday 2nd April
BB0912 : John's Comeback
Monday 6th April
BB0913 : Two Churches, a Pulpit and a Cherry Picker
Thursday, 23rd April
BB0914 : Companions of the BOOT
Thursday 30th April
BB0915 : The Gale Force Choice
Thursday 7th May
BB0916 : The Comeback Continues
Thursday 21st May
BB0917 : BOOTboys Encore !
28th May - 2nd June
BB0918 : Hello Dollywagon
Thursday 11th June
BB0919 : Has Anyone Seen Lily?
Thursday 18th June
BB0920 : Ancient Feet on the Greenburn Horseshoe
Thursday 25th June
BB0921 : The Tebay Fell Race Walk
Thursday 2nd July
BB0922 : For England and St George
Thursday 9th July
BB0923 : The Coniston Outliers
Friday 31st July
BB0924 : Little To Be Said In Favour?
Thursday 6th August
BB0925 : The Third Night of the Rescue
Thursday 13th August
BB0926 : Long Wet Windy Monty Bothy Fun?
Thursday 20th August
BB0927 : Dear Mrs Scroggins
Friday 11th September
BB0928 : An Ard Day's Hike
Thursday 17th September
BB0929 : A Canter of Convalescents?
Thursday 24th September
BB0930 : BOOTboys International Autumnal Expedition
Wednesday 23rd to
Sunday 27th September
BB0931 : A Bit of an Adventure
Thursday 1st October
BB0932 : Paths of Glory?
Thursday 8th October
BB0933 : When Yorkshire Was Welsh
Wednesday 14th October
BB0934 : Unlocking the Whinlatters
Thursday 22nd October
BB0935 : A Tale of Crinkley Bottoms
Thursday 5th November
BB0936 : Aye Up What?
Thursday 12th November
BB0937 : Where Eagles Wade
Tuesday 17th November
BB0938 : After the Floods
Thursday 26th November
BB0939 : The Mystery of the Missing Glove
Thursday 10th December
BB0940 : A Too Short Walk
Thursday 17th December
BB0941 : One Hundred and Onesfell
Tuesday 29th December

BH0901 : Back to the Beginning
Thursday 13th August
BSKIB09 : BOOTskiboys in Saalbach
14th - 21st March
BB09XX : Los Chicos y las Chicas de la Bota
11th - 14th May
BB09Bav01 : Peaked Too Soon
1st September

Click on the photos for an enlargement or related large picture.

Wainwrights

To download a log of which Wainwrights have been done by which BOOTboy in the "modern" era, i.e. since the advent of BOOTboys click on Wainwrights.

If anyone wants to claim other peaks, please let me know and I will submit them to the adjudication committee!

BOOT boys